Four Signs Of Living In A Kleptocracy

Kleptocracy.  Up until the past year or so, that might be a word that most people hadn't heard all that often.  But, to those familiar with the term "kleptomaniac," it should be easy to figure out want it means.  A kleptocracy is government by thievery.  Not just of wealth, but of fairness.  Of accountability.  Even of the truth itself.  And all four forms of thievery have been on display during the past few weeks, during this "golden age" of Republican rule.

Of course, stealing wealth, the oldest form of kleptocratic behavior, was probably to be expected from this crowd, given its largely Wall Street pedigree.  In the case of the Trumpies, it seems to have manifested itself into an obsession with free airfare.  The exposure of this obsession began with the news that the Treasury Secretary wanted the U.S. taxpayers to pay for his honeymoon flights to and from Europe--allegedly because he needed "secure communications" for the trip.  Only after the request became public did it become known (largely through social media, of course) that the Treasury Secretary is not one of the government officials required to have a government plane for secure communications.  The request was then withdrawn.  But in the wake of this story came other reports of other misuse of taxpayer funds for flights by Cabinet members, ultimately leading to the resignation of the Health and Human Services Secretary (already in hot water due to the repeal-and-replace Obamacare fiasco).

Next, an example of how to steal accountability, from outside of Washington and in the Sunshine State of Florida, much of which was devastated by Hurricane Irma.  Turns out there isn't as much "sunshine" in the government as their should be, with this report of the deletion of unanswered emergency calls to the GOP governor regarding senior citizens trapped in a nursing home (a home, by the way, where 11 people died).

Back to the nation's capital now, and e-mails.  Ah, yes, e-mails.  Remember "Crooked Hillary's" private e-mail server?  The one that was supposed to get her locked up?  Well, the Trump White House has multiplied this crookedness, with Crooked Ivana, Crooked Jared, Crooked Steve, Crooked Reince, Crooked Stephen, and Crooked Gary.  All at the expense of fairness not only to Hillary, but to all of us.  What is it, exactly, about a level playing field that these people hate so much?

Finally, there's the truth.  We require public officials to perform their duties under oath so that, among other things, truth (and faith) in government can be upheld.  In the case of the President, he (or, one day, she) takes an oath to ensure that the laws are being faithfully executed.  Donald Trump took that oath.  And lied doing it.  You can find the evidence for that in any number of places.  Or, you can just take his former DEA leader's word for it.

Donald Trump is not making America great again.  He's making Americans suckers again.  And, perhaps, doing even worse than that.  I'll refer you to my next post for more information on that.